Monday, August 29, 2011

FULL MEDIA DISCLOSURE - SHOW US THE MONEY!

As we enter into a new campaign season, why don't we ask our media to do something new and refreshing? Why don't we demand a little transparency on their part for a change? We don't need to require them to disclose their closely held sources, that would jeopardize their journalistic ethics, but we do need to know who is paying their bills. What campaigns or outside interest groups are funneling money to them? Full disclosure to the American people all the time, at the beginning of every broadcast, on the front page of every newspaper, and on the cover of every publication should be a standard the media lives by. We deserve to know how the political money is being spent without having to dig through a mountain of paper over at the FEC. If they can report what's going on in a campaign, they can sure as hell report what they are being paid to run advertisements by campaigns. If it runs on their air or in their publication, we need to know what they received for it and where it came from, period.

Why has no one has demanded this on a Sunday Talk Show in the past. Why this is is so inside politics that it beyond the reach of average American's who truly deserve to know. Who is afraid for this information to become public? Are the advertisers ashamed of their handy work? No one is asking for disclosure from the advertising agencies. This is simply a call for who is paying to put it out there on the air waves and in print. Is the media afraid? Is the media ashamed? Whether the money comes from, Union members, Special Interest PACs, Political Parties, Candidates Campaign Funds, Corporations, or Individuals, media outlets have an obligation to report who is spending what, and no one knows better than they do because they are sending out the bills.

So here is a challenge to all the media… conservative and liberal media alike, are you true patriots or are you afraid a little of the scrutiny you happily dish out? The real campaign is about to begin, can we the American people count on you to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about how much is being paid for what we see on your air and in your publications and from whom you receive payment? Yes we hear and see the FEC disclaimers… this ad is paid for by… but who is that really? Are you really going to share that? America is waiting….

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Defending Emily Fields

When Non Profit groups like the Florida Family Foundation pressure advertisers like General Mills to pull their support from quality programming like ABC Family’s show “Pretty Little Liars” we all suffer. First Amendment issues notwithstanding; the real issue here is whether we as a people are prepared to accept reality and deal with situations that at times can make us uncomfortable; in this case two young women kissing. One would have thought that Norman Lear crushed that barrier with his cutting edge 1970’s series “All in the Family” on CBS when America was force fed the reality of bigotry in Prime Time. From that point on it became clear to everyone that the television industry had more than token black and strong dominant participation. A whole host of programming was born and for the better. It did not take long before barriers fell for the homosexual community as well, albeit in predominantly male roles.

Here we find ourselves some four decades after a bigoted Archie Bunker came to the realization that he had to accept the first successful human heart transplant operation was from a black man to a white man, and somehow as a nation we cannot get passed the image of two young women sharing an intimate moment coming into our living rooms. Never mind the fact that the argument to used to get the advertisers to pull their support from the program had very little to do with the mission statement of the organization promoting the action. Pretty Little Liars is not a show about children; it is a show about older adolescent teenagers. Emily Fields the subject of all the Ire is one of four main characters and of many story lines of the program. Emily has come to discover that she is not attracted to young men like her friends (Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, and Aria Montgomery), learning to kiss with her murdered friend Alison DiLaurentis and she begins to experiment with young women, finally realizing her sexuality. Emily also had to deal with the threat of being exposed by a mysterious nemesis “A” a yet undiscovered character causing chaos and mischief for all four of the Pretty Little Liars.

This matter was handled tastefully and in a serious way. It was not extraneous frivolity strewn across the small screen for the delight of perversion. Emily faces serious dilemmas within herself, her closest trusted friends, and finally her parents. Her mother initially rejected her as broken. Emily’s father away in the military and a very conservative man returned home to face a household in disarray and a daughter confused and in distress. At the same time Emily was falling in love with a girl, one who used marijuana, and who was whisked out of her life almost as quickly as she had entered. Emily continues to meet new people into the second season, but still burns a candle for her first love.

This is not about Promoting Traditional Biblical Values or Christianity. This is about wholesale abuse of the First Amendment by radical extremists who claim to represent a Godly view. Any decent self respecting Christian with a cursory knowledge of the four gospels of the New Testament would be able to tell you that Christ did not preach judgment to the masses, nor did he preach disassociation due to differences. He healed the sick including lepers, the blind, the deaf, the crippled and the possessed. He forgave the prostitute and the adulteress woman and sent them on their way to sin no more. He turned the other cheek at his own crucifixion. These are not the values that persecute a little girl who finds herself dealing with her sexuality. These are not the values that demand advertisers run away from a series telling a story that deals with issues which are prevalent in our society and require thoughtful and sincere discourse. These are quite simply displays of bigotry, cowardice, and most importantly ignorance that have no place in a society that prides itself on being open and forthright. Shame on them!

All of the advertisers knew when they signed on to this project exactly what they were getting. The show has never been billed as a Disney style G rated feel good series. The basis of the show is about telling lies and keeping secrets between friends, and all the havoc that goes along with keep that up. All of the girls date and each have seen sexual situations presented in the show, but certainly nothing flamboyant in nature. Of course having a few murders and some great fashion thrown in as a bonus can’t hurt the marketing, and the stars are all attractive. The producers, writers, and cast are committed to delivering outstanding programming. Excellent veteran actors, among them Holly Marie Combs, Laura Leighton, Chad Lowe and Nia Peeples backstop the main cast.

While I do not believe in retaliatory boycotts, mainly because the retailer is the one that suffers, not the advertiser, our voices do need to be heard. Call and Write General Mills, Call, Write the Florida Family Foundation, and let them know how you feel about the show and how they have conducted themselves regarding this miscarriage of justice. Tweet and e-mail your friends, because pressure works both ways.